Post by M-G Corki on Jan 22, 2009 19:21:24 GMT
Right...the Band is now the last ORG not completely agreed to moving everything from offboards back to DM. As a result, the following proposal has been put forward to me by Emperor, the DM ORG Admin, to get us back. It is an email I received a few days ago with a proposal. Please take time to read it and post any queries and concerns you have. Empy will be looking in (as he is a Bander, but a slack one at that! ) and will be answering the concerns and queries you may have.
PLEASE NOTE: The deadline is 9th Feruary for a decision - not the 30th January. I've had it put back as January is chaos at work (it's personal tax time) and I have to head home that weekend to go to my great uncle's funeral. Corki
THE EMAIL
Now, I want a discussion about the proposal, and as promised last time, this will go to a vote, which will start on Saturday 31st January 2009.
I will post what I see as pro's and con's, while also addressing my concerns that I want answering.
PLEASE NOTE: The deadline is 9th Feruary for a decision - not the 30th January. I've had it put back as January is chaos at work (it's personal tax time) and I have to head home that weekend to go to my great uncle's funeral. Corki
THE EMAIL
Good morning Corki,
Over the past few days/weeks, the Admin team has been discussing at length the issue of bringing the Band boards back to DM. I am going to diplomatically address some issues you have and then we can move on.
"Jason Promised Me...." - I have spoken with Jason and heard his side. I have seen some of the correspondence that went on between you two. While you may feel you were promised certain things, the reality is that you were only promised that he would look into alternative ways of bringing the boards back to DM. The Admins and Jason have come to the conclusion that sub domain boards are not an option at DM.
"DM is Slow and posting is a chore" - We have addressed this concern. We have upgraded the boards to the most up to date version. We are exploring new boards for 8.0. We have put a call out to get addition help for the tech team. I think the boards are much faster than in the past. It may be a little slower than the off site boards but really I do not believe it is that noticeable. We will continue to make improvements over time to address this problem. If individuals are having more problems than others, the Ask the Staff board and help desk email are always options for our techs to address their issues.
"Full Admin like control over your boards" - This is something I promise to not let go. I agree that it would be a nice perk for Org Leaders to have this control over their own boards. Matalina currently has feelers out to find an add on that gives us this option. If a work around is not found then we will just have to live with what we have now. You have the ability to add people to groups and to fully moderate your boards. This will not change in 8.0 unless, like I said, Matalina finds a work around. It is also the same options all the other orgs at DM have currently. The Band is an org of DM and is no more important/special than any other org.
"Admins can see our private boards" - I am going to make you a promise. I will not check out your private boards unless I am invited or I am aware of a problem. If the problem arises that requires me to go to that board, I will let you know each and ever post I read. I am not in the habit of other org private boards now. I doubt Jason ever ventures to DM boards outside of Staff and General. I bet Kathana doesn't care about your private boards as well. This is also an issue every org deals with so the Band would not be singled out here.
"DM posts will be lost..." The message boards are archived nightly. I think in the past 2 or 3 years, we have only had one incident where we lost a day's worth of posting. I think the only time we have lost more than a days worth of posts is when we have a breaking and create new boards. The old boards are kept for archiving purposes.
I hope I have addressed your concerns above. We can argue back and forth on these issues, but I am doubting our sides will change and it will just be a waste of time. Now we need to focus on the orderly move of your off site boards back to DM or if you are even willing to entertain this idea. I have created a timeline which I would like to focus our discussions on. Basically it comes down to this. The Community Admin team wants to bring the Band back to Dragonmount as it is a Dragonmount Organization. All other orgs have complied with this request. Really the only compromise we are willing to give you at this time is to allow a handful of staff boards to remain open off site so you don't have 'prying eyes' from other admins. We would like the rest of the boards back to DM after 8.0 goes live.
We have come to a crossroads here. We can either work together to get the Band back on DM or you will be become a new WOT site.
If you decide to part company with DM, we will search for a new Org Leader of DM's Band and move on from there. There will be no hard feelings on our part and you will be treated like other unique WOT sites we are associated with. However you can not recruit new members from the DM site. You will need to take down anything from your site that affiliates you with DM.
If you want to remain on DM, then we begin go talk about the below staged movement of boards back to DM. I put this together but will need your help tweaking it as you know your org the best. We can be a little flexible with the dates or what happens in each stage, but the intention is to have the org back on DM as close to going to live with 8.0 as possible. I would also like our discussion to change from what I posted at the start of this email (the past) to what we are going to do to make it happen (the future). Keep bringing issues that your org has with DM to Staff and lets work through them as a team.
I understand you may want to take this to a Band vote. I ask that you present and frame the idea fairly without your own prejudice towards the Admins or the idea. I will be around on your off site boards to answer questions of your members (poke me if I miss something). In the end I ask that you have an answer back to us by 30th January 2009. Feel free to use excerpts from this email if needed. If you use the timeline, please let them know this is a rough draft that we will work on together to realistically make the changes needed.
The Proposal
Objective: The movement of the Band of the Red Hand off site boards back to DM
Note: The Staff, Org Game Staff and XO Office remain off site and controlled by Corki/Band Staff up to the time OL's have admin-like power over their own boards on DM
Stage 1:
Objective: Locking boards already duplicated at DM by 2-28-09, stop encouraging new recruits to go to off site right away
Lock Offiste: General Board, The Campfires, New Recruits Look Here, Passing Out Parade
Create: New Recruits board on DM
Stage 2:
Objective: Re-immerse Core DM Band members back to DM boards; bring activity back to DM from off site boards
Create: Regimental Boards On DM Proper by 10th April 2009 (assuming 8.0 is up and running)
Locking Boards for Archive Purposes at botrh.proboards36.com by 10th April 2009 (assuming 8.0 is up and running)
Boards Effected:
Infantry - The Barracks, Infantry Private, Infantry Library
Archers - The Archery Range, Archers Private Boards, The Band Museum
Calvary - The Yard, Calvary Private Boards, The Horse Caverns
Redarms - The Courtroom, Bands Most Wanted, Police Station
Stage 3:
Objective: Moving Archived Review threads to Band Wiki site, create new boards on DM, lock old boards off site
Creation of Holiday and Music Reviews section and boards on DM by 10th May 2009
Locking Holiday and Music Reviews Boards for Archive Purposes at botrh.proboards36.com by 10th May 2009
Boards Effected:
Holiday Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Album Reviews, Gig Reviews
Stage 4:
Objective: The Band game and boards moved to DM and locked by 30th May 2009
Thomas, I really hope we can work together to make this happen.
Thank you for your attention in this matter,
Emperor/Brian
Dragonmount Organization Admin
Over the past few days/weeks, the Admin team has been discussing at length the issue of bringing the Band boards back to DM. I am going to diplomatically address some issues you have and then we can move on.
"Jason Promised Me...." - I have spoken with Jason and heard his side. I have seen some of the correspondence that went on between you two. While you may feel you were promised certain things, the reality is that you were only promised that he would look into alternative ways of bringing the boards back to DM. The Admins and Jason have come to the conclusion that sub domain boards are not an option at DM.
"DM is Slow and posting is a chore" - We have addressed this concern. We have upgraded the boards to the most up to date version. We are exploring new boards for 8.0. We have put a call out to get addition help for the tech team. I think the boards are much faster than in the past. It may be a little slower than the off site boards but really I do not believe it is that noticeable. We will continue to make improvements over time to address this problem. If individuals are having more problems than others, the Ask the Staff board and help desk email are always options for our techs to address their issues.
"Full Admin like control over your boards" - This is something I promise to not let go. I agree that it would be a nice perk for Org Leaders to have this control over their own boards. Matalina currently has feelers out to find an add on that gives us this option. If a work around is not found then we will just have to live with what we have now. You have the ability to add people to groups and to fully moderate your boards. This will not change in 8.0 unless, like I said, Matalina finds a work around. It is also the same options all the other orgs at DM have currently. The Band is an org of DM and is no more important/special than any other org.
"Admins can see our private boards" - I am going to make you a promise. I will not check out your private boards unless I am invited or I am aware of a problem. If the problem arises that requires me to go to that board, I will let you know each and ever post I read. I am not in the habit of other org private boards now. I doubt Jason ever ventures to DM boards outside of Staff and General. I bet Kathana doesn't care about your private boards as well. This is also an issue every org deals with so the Band would not be singled out here.
"DM posts will be lost..." The message boards are archived nightly. I think in the past 2 or 3 years, we have only had one incident where we lost a day's worth of posting. I think the only time we have lost more than a days worth of posts is when we have a breaking and create new boards. The old boards are kept for archiving purposes.
I hope I have addressed your concerns above. We can argue back and forth on these issues, but I am doubting our sides will change and it will just be a waste of time. Now we need to focus on the orderly move of your off site boards back to DM or if you are even willing to entertain this idea. I have created a timeline which I would like to focus our discussions on. Basically it comes down to this. The Community Admin team wants to bring the Band back to Dragonmount as it is a Dragonmount Organization. All other orgs have complied with this request. Really the only compromise we are willing to give you at this time is to allow a handful of staff boards to remain open off site so you don't have 'prying eyes' from other admins. We would like the rest of the boards back to DM after 8.0 goes live.
We have come to a crossroads here. We can either work together to get the Band back on DM or you will be become a new WOT site.
If you decide to part company with DM, we will search for a new Org Leader of DM's Band and move on from there. There will be no hard feelings on our part and you will be treated like other unique WOT sites we are associated with. However you can not recruit new members from the DM site. You will need to take down anything from your site that affiliates you with DM.
If you want to remain on DM, then we begin go talk about the below staged movement of boards back to DM. I put this together but will need your help tweaking it as you know your org the best. We can be a little flexible with the dates or what happens in each stage, but the intention is to have the org back on DM as close to going to live with 8.0 as possible. I would also like our discussion to change from what I posted at the start of this email (the past) to what we are going to do to make it happen (the future). Keep bringing issues that your org has with DM to Staff and lets work through them as a team.
I understand you may want to take this to a Band vote. I ask that you present and frame the idea fairly without your own prejudice towards the Admins or the idea. I will be around on your off site boards to answer questions of your members (poke me if I miss something). In the end I ask that you have an answer back to us by 30th January 2009. Feel free to use excerpts from this email if needed. If you use the timeline, please let them know this is a rough draft that we will work on together to realistically make the changes needed.
The Proposal
Objective: The movement of the Band of the Red Hand off site boards back to DM
Note: The Staff, Org Game Staff and XO Office remain off site and controlled by Corki/Band Staff up to the time OL's have admin-like power over their own boards on DM
Stage 1:
Objective: Locking boards already duplicated at DM by 2-28-09, stop encouraging new recruits to go to off site right away
Lock Offiste: General Board, The Campfires, New Recruits Look Here, Passing Out Parade
Create: New Recruits board on DM
Stage 2:
Objective: Re-immerse Core DM Band members back to DM boards; bring activity back to DM from off site boards
Create: Regimental Boards On DM Proper by 10th April 2009 (assuming 8.0 is up and running)
Locking Boards for Archive Purposes at botrh.proboards36.com by 10th April 2009 (assuming 8.0 is up and running)
Boards Effected:
Infantry - The Barracks, Infantry Private, Infantry Library
Archers - The Archery Range, Archers Private Boards, The Band Museum
Calvary - The Yard, Calvary Private Boards, The Horse Caverns
Redarms - The Courtroom, Bands Most Wanted, Police Station
Stage 3:
Objective: Moving Archived Review threads to Band Wiki site, create new boards on DM, lock old boards off site
Creation of Holiday and Music Reviews section and boards on DM by 10th May 2009
Locking Holiday and Music Reviews Boards for Archive Purposes at botrh.proboards36.com by 10th May 2009
Boards Effected:
Holiday Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Album Reviews, Gig Reviews
Stage 4:
Objective: The Band game and boards moved to DM and locked by 30th May 2009
Thomas, I really hope we can work together to make this happen.
Thank you for your attention in this matter,
Emperor/Brian
Dragonmount Organization Admin
Now, I want a discussion about the proposal, and as promised last time, this will go to a vote, which will start on Saturday 31st January 2009.
I will post what I see as pro's and con's, while also addressing my concerns that I want answering.